Delhi court blast accused killed in Kishtwar (Second Lead)

Jammu, Aug 6 (IANS) An accused in the 2011 Delhi High Court blast was among two Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) militants killed Monday in a shootout with security forces in the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said. One militant was arrested.

Inspector General of Police, Jammu, Dilbag Singh told IANS that Amir Ali Kamal alias Akram, a suspect in the Delhi blast, and Shafi Hajam were killed in a joint operation with the army in Dachan areas, about 270 km north of Jammu.

Sajad Rizwan, another militant, was arrested, he said.

“The operation based on intelligence input was launched last night when security forces laid a cordon around the suspected hideout of the militants. The fire fight began today morning and the operation concluded at 9.30 a.m.,” he said.

“Akram was one of the oldest militants active in the area since 2008,” he said.

Dilbag Singh said that Akram was on the radar of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as he is believed to have arranged explosives and planter for the Delhi blast Sep 7, 2011 in which at least 10 people were killed and over 70 injured.

He described Rizwan’s arrest as a “very important catch” as he could lead to other top militants in the area and those associated with Akram in the Delhi High Court blast.

According to the inspector general of police, three HM militants involved in the Delhi High Court blast were in Kishtwar area — Amir Ali Kamal, Shakir Hussain Sheikh alias Chota Hafiz and Javaid Akram.

“We have not found a footprint of Javaid since long now. There is a mystery surrounding his whereabouts as one report suggested that he got killed in a group clash,” he said.

According to police sources, there was intelligence input that a group of seven militants, including Jehangir (top commander of HM of the area), Shakir Hussain Sheikh alias Chota Hafiz (HM district commander), Riaz, Rizwan and Shafi along with two other associates, were holding a meeting to strategise for future action.

The security forces struck in the morning when this meeting was going on, they said.

The Kishtwar area has been in focus ever since the Delhi High Court blast as the first of the e-mails claiming responsibility for the blast emanated from here leading to the arrest of two youths. Two more youths were arrested later for allegedly being involved in the blast.